NationalWatch

Republicans Still Favored to Win House Control House Rules Committee Ranking Member Tom Cole, R-Okla., speaks during a hearing on the Senate amendment to the Inflation Reduction Act at the U.S. Capitol Aug. 10. (Francis Chung/AP)

By Charlie McCarthy | Tuesday, 06 September 2022 08:51 AM EDT

Republicans remain on track to regain control of the House despite Democrat progress during the summer, Politico reported.

The GOP needs to gain only five seats to win control, and it appears the party can assume power even if it fails to flip any districts that President Joe Biden carried in 2020, Politico reported Tuesday.

"I think we probably had a little bit of irrational exuberance during the course of the summer. No question that the president's numbers, while bad, are better," Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla., told Politico.

"I always ask myself every morning, would I rather be us than them? And I'd rather be us. And I think if they're honest, they would say the same thing."

Historically, a president's party loses seats in the midterms. Cole, a former House Republican campaign chief, suggested Republicans could gain 20-25 seats in November.

The size of the GOP's potential majority will be determined by the two dozen or so Democrat-held seats that Biden carried narrowly in 2020.

Politico said that some Democrats privately say that they hope their party can limit GOP gains to single digits.

"The drive to hold the majority has been hampered by an historic number of Democratic retirements, setbacks in redistricting, and the fact that several Democratic incumbents are running in Trump-leaning territory," Politico said.

After the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, Democrats have been encouraged by a month of special election upsets and improved standing in generic ballot polling.

"It's the top issue that I'm hearing about with a close second being the economy," said North Carolina state Sen. Wiley Nickel, a Democrat running in a newly redrawn district around Raleigh, North Carolina.

"It's at the top of many voters' minds, because we had these constitutional rights for 50 years and now the Republicans have taken them away."

However, although redistricting didn't tilt as heavily to Republicans as some expected, the GOP appears to have added new red districts, most notably around Nashville, Atlanta and Houston, and in Florida and eastern Montana, Politico reported.

Then there's roughly a dozen Democrat seats in districts won by former President Donald Trump. About half of those seats are open, and even Democrats admit they likely won't be able to hold onto some of them.

For example, Rep. Tom O'Halleran, D-Ariz., represents a district that Trump would have won by 8 points.

"Those campaigns are going to be tough and difficult," Rep. Raúl Grijalva, D-Ariz., said, Politico reported, though he predicted that "inevitability for Republicans is gone."

Also, Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her caucus will be facing a coming surge of outside spending, which could swamp them in TV ads in the critical final weeks of the midterms.

Politico reported that Democrats have seen improvement in a group of blue districts Biden carried by more than 10 points in 2020, and a handful of GOP incumbents in districts the president carried appear much more vulnerable.

A collection of recent internal Democrat polls conducted in a dozen battleground seats showed Democrat candidates running, on average, more than 6 percentage points above Biden's favorability rating in those districts, Politico said.

Original Article

Govt Funding, Gay Marriage in Focus as US Congress Returns From Break The U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. (Dreamstime)

Richard Cowan Tuesday, 06 September 2022 07:31 AM EDT

The U.S. Congress needs to pass a stop-gap bill to keep the federal government funded and could also vote on protecting gay marriage rights during a brief Washington work period starting on Tuesday before Democrats and Republicans return to the campaign trail.

With President Joe Biden's Democrats expected to lose their thin majority in the U.S. House of Representatives in the Nov. 8 midterms, and with Senate control also at stake, Democrats aim to engineer smooth passage of a temporary government funding bill by Sept. 30 to avoid partial federal agency shutdowns when money runs out at the end of this month.

Congress will have to work fast. The Senate reopens on Tuesday evening and the House on Sept. 13. But the House is scheduled to be in session for only 11 days this month and will then be gone until Nov. 14, unless plans change.

Republican cooperation will be necessary in the Senate for the temporary funding bill that may last until December, and which is needed because the two parties have yet to agree on a dozen regular funding bills.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat, has also vowed to hold a vote on a House-passed bill codifying the right to same-sex marriage.

It is not clear that bill will have the 10 Republican votes needed to pass. During the August recess both parties worked on revisions to the measure, which could help its prospects, according to a source familiar with the discussions.

Plenty of controversial issues could roil Congress as it grapples with a massive spending bill.

On Friday, Biden requested $47.1 billion in new spending, including $11.7 billion in emergency funds to help Ukraine in its fight against Russian forces and $22.4 billion in COVID-19 aid.

With many areas of the United States suffering from climate change related flooding, western wildfires and other natural disasters, Biden has requested $6.5 billion in aid, along with $4.5 billion to help deal with an outbreak of monkeypox.

A special House committee might hold at least one more hearing as part of its investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021 breach of the U.S. Capitol by President Donald Trump supporters. A separate probe into Trump's handling of classified documents has dominated headlines for months, worrying some Republican candidates about election fallout.

Democrat Sen. Joe Manchin may ramp up his push for a bill reforming the way permits are approved for energy infrastructure projects ranging from pipelines to export facilities. It is a measure that some Democrats could have concerns with because of climate change worries.

Heading into the final two months of the campaign season, Democrats in Congress were feeling somewhat more optimistic about avoiding massive losses to Republican challengers on Nov. 8.

Gasoline prices have fallen off of highs earlier this year and there are signs of a public backlash against the conservative-majority Supreme Court's overturning abortion rights, which was a Republican Party goal for decades.

Democrats have scored victories this year on popular initiatives, such as gun control, placing a cap on some prescription drug prices and moving toward carbon emissions reductions blamed for dangerous climate change.

Nevertheless, Biden's popularity has suffered because of Americans' economic worries and COVID-19 pandemic fatigue.

Republican lawmakers undoubtedly will spend this upcoming work session hammering away on such issues.

"These are challenging times for a lot of folks," Republican Sen. Mitt Romney said in a statement last week. "With record inflation, we’re seeing higher prices for food, electricity, gasoline, and more."

Original Article

Peter Navarro to Newsmax: Raid 'Partisan Witch Hunt' to Stop Trump's '24 Run (Newsmax/Eric Bolling The Balance")

By Charles Kim | Monday, 05 September 2022 10:58 PM EDT

The FBI's raid of former President Donald Trump's private Mar-a-Lago residence is nothing more than a "partisan witch hunt" designed to keep him from running for president again in 2024, according to Trump trade adviser Peter Navarro on Newsmax.

"There's some bigger questions that Trump's legal team, I believe, will be asking about how this all came about because it just doesn't smell or look right," Navarro told Monday's "Eric Bolling: The Balance." "It looks like it's a partisan witch hunt designed to take Trump out of the 2024 election.

"When they issued those warrants, if you read them carefully, it says right in one of them, 'if you do this, you can't run for office.' I mean, it's not like they're trying to hide the fact that they're trying to stop Donald John Trump from running for president."

Navarro said the Department of Justice and the FBI have been trying to bully Trump since the 2016 race, when it lied to a FISA court to spy on the Trump campaign, and later the president regarding the Russian collusion hoax.

"[That] was essentially designed to be a preemptive coup to help Hillary Clinton win the race, and throughout the six years since that point in time, there are things that don't smell right," Navarro told Bolling.

Navarro said this is the same DOJ and FBI "that put me in leg irons for a misdemeanor," placing him in the same jail cell as the man who tried to assassinate former President Ronald Reagan in 1981, John Hinckley.

"They're trying to bully Trump to try and bully me," Navarro said. "It's not working. We're fighting back. I not only want to see what the special master comes up with. I want to get to the bottom of whether there's coordination across the agencies."

Navarro said everyone needs to go vote in the November midterm elections to put an end to these tactics by Biden and the Democrats in Congress.

"November is where we get even everybody watching this show, you get out, you vote," he said. "You go out and you find candidates who you can give money or time to, and we throw these rascals out. Once the Republicans get back in there in January, the subpoenas [will] start flying, and we get the answers to the big questions."

About NEWSMAX TV:

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Original Article

Peter Navarro to Newsmax: Raid 'Partisan Witch Hunt' to Stop Trump's '24 Run (Newsmax/Eric Bolling The Balance")

By Charles Kim | Monday, 05 September 2022 10:58 PM EDT

The FBI's raid of former President Donald Trump's private Mar-a-Lago residence is nothing more than a "partisan witch hunt" designed to keep him from running for president again in 2024, according to Trump trade adviser Peter Navarro on Newsmax.

"There's some bigger questions that Trump's legal team, I believe, will be asking about how this all came about because it just doesn't smell or look right," Navarro told Monday's "Eric Bolling: The Balance." "It looks like it's a partisan witch hunt designed to take Trump out of the 2024 election.

"When they issued those warrants, if you read them carefully, it says right in one of them, 'if you do this, you can't run for office.' I mean, it's not like they're trying to hide the fact that they're trying to stop Donald John Trump from running for president."

Navarro said the Department of Justice and the FBI have been trying to bully Trump since the 2016 race, when it lied to a FISA court to spy on the Trump campaign, and later the president regarding the Russian collusion hoax.

"[That] was essentially designed to be a preemptive coup to help Hillary Clinton win the race, and throughout the six years since that point in time, there are things that don't smell right," Navarro told Bolling.

Navarro said this is the same DOJ and FBI "that put me in leg irons for a misdemeanor," placing him in the same jail cell as the man who tried to assassinate former President Ronald Reagan in 1981, John Hinckley.

"They're trying to bully Trump to try and bully me," Navarro said. "It's not working. We're fighting back. I not only want to see what the special master comes up with. I want to get to the bottom of whether there's coordination across the agencies."

Navarro said everyone needs to go vote in the November midterm elections to put an end to these tactics by Biden and the Democrats in Congress.

"November is where we get even everybody watching this show, you get out, you vote," he said. "You go out and you find candidates who you can give money or time to, and we throw these rascals out. Once the Republicans get back in there in January, the subpoenas [will] start flying, and we get the answers to the big questions."

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Video Report: Special Master Ruling Catches Biden in Lie About FBI-Trump Probe (Newsmax/"American Agenda")

By John Huddy Monday, 05 September 2022 09:40 PM EDT Current | Bio | Archive

"Look on page 2": Newsmax Correspondent John Huddy reports on Monday's "American Agenda" what is written in the judge's ruling granting Donald Trump's lawyers' request for a special master to oversee the FBI's investigation into documents seized from Mar-a-Lago.

John Huddy is a Newsmax senior correspondent. He is an award-winning journalist and war correspondent who has worked in the Middle East, Asia, Europe, and parts of Africa. Get His Reports Here!

Original Article

Video Report: Special Master Ruling Catches Biden in Lie About FBI-Trump Probe (Newsmax/"American Agenda")

By John Huddy Monday, 05 September 2022 09:40 PM EDT Current | Bio | Archive

"Look on page 2": Newsmax Correspondent John Huddy reports on Monday's "American Agenda" what is written in the judge's ruling granting Donald Trump's lawyers' request for a special master to oversee the FBI's investigation into documents seized from Mar-a-Lago.

John Huddy is a Newsmax senior correspondent. He is an award-winning journalist and war correspondent who has worked in the Middle East, Asia, Europe, and parts of Africa. Get His Reports Here!

Dick Morris to Newsmax: Indicting Trump Like a Fine for Overdue Library Book

Political strategist Dick Morris. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)

By Charles Kim | Monday, 05 September 2022 06:53 PM EDT

Dick Morris, political activist, author and adviser to former Presidents Bill Clinton and Donald Trump, told Newsmax on Monday that an indictment of Trump for the documents found in an FBI search of his Florida home would be like having ''an overdue library book'' more than a national security issue.

''The strategy here by [President Joe Biden's] people is to get off the presidential record and attack Trump personally, and the key element was raiding Mar-a-Lago. That is that is just creating an issue for Trump that's terribly effective for him,'' Morris said on ''Spicer & Co.''

''The next step will be, I think, that they're going to indict Trump on a records violation about the [National] Archives. That's a little bit like indicting someone for having an overdue library book because the archivist is in, the last analysis, a librarian.

''Basically, their nose is out of joint that all the books having come in yet. The only thing that would make it serious is if there's a credible accusation that Trump leaked our secrets to the Russians or the Chinese, and he didn't before years as president, and he hasn't for two years as a former president.''

Morris, whose new book, ''The Return,'' highlights how the Democrats and deep state are targeting the former president, said that the idea here is to keep Americans distracted from Biden's policies that led to inflation and energy supply problems, and on to discussing the prosecution of Trump.

''Just remember in 1998-99. All anyone in [Washington, D.C.] could talk about was Monica Lewinsky,'' Morris said. ''If they indict Trump after the election, all anyone will talk about is Trump's indictment, and if he would be convicted, and could he still run, will be the nominee.

''That's the recipe for having people not talk about Joe Biden, and not talk about inflation, talk about gas prices, because everybody will be focused only on one question: Trump's indictment. That's what they're trying to do.''

He said that another angle is try to cause a civil war within the Republican Party by using a Trump prosecution to pull Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis into a GOP 2024 primary with Trump, which could fracture the party.

''Trump won't cede this ground voluntarily,'' he said. ''This would cause a Republican civil war, a DeSantis-Trump fight from which will never recover, and throw away our chances in 2024, so this must not happen.''

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Original Article

Dick Morris to Newsmax: Indicting Trump Like a Fine for Overdue Library Book (Newsmax/''Spicer & Co.'')

By Charles Kim | Monday, 05 September 2022 06:53 PM EDT

Dick Morris, political activist, author and adviser to former Presidents Bill Clinton and Donald Trump, told Newsmax on Monday that an indictment of Trump for the documents found in an FBI search of his Florida home would be like having ''an overdue library book'' more than a national security issue.

''The strategy here by [President Joe Biden's] people is to get off the presidential record and attack Trump personally, and the key element was raiding Mar-a-Lago. That is just creating an issue for Trump that's terribly effective for him,'' Morris said on ''Spicer & Co.''

''The next step will be, I think, that they're going to indict Trump on a records violation about the [National] Archives. That's a little bit like indicting someone for having an overdue library book because the archivist is in, the last analysis, a librarian.

''Basically, their nose is out of joint that all the books haven't come in yet. The only thing that would make it serious is if there's a credible accusation that Trump leaked our secrets to the Russians or the Chinese, and he didn't for four years as president, and he hasn't for two years as a former president.''

Morris, whose new book, "The Return," highlights how the Democrats and deep state are targeting the former president, said that the idea here is to keep Americans distracted from Biden's policies that led to inflation and energy supply problems, and on to discussing the prosecution of Trump.

''Just remember in 1998-99. All anyone in [Washington, D.C.] could talk about was Monica Lewinsky,'' Morris said. ''If they indict Trump after the election, all anyone will talk about is Trump's indictment, and if he would be convicted, and could he still run, will he be the nominee.

''That's the recipe for having people not talk about Joe Biden, and not talk about inflation, talk about gas prices, because everybody will be focused only on one question: Trump's indictment. That's what they're trying to do.''

He said that another angle is try to cause a civil war within the Republican Party by using a Trump prosecution to pull Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis into a GOP 2024 primary with Trump, which could fracture the party.

''Trump won't cede this ground voluntarily,'' he said. ''This would cause a Republican civil war, a DeSantis-Trump fight from which we'll never recover, and throw away our chances in 2024, so this must not happen.''

About NEWSMAX TV:

NEWSMAX is the fastest-growing cable news channel in America!

• Find NEWSMAX in over 100 million U.S. homes via cable/streaming – More Info Here
• Watch NEWSMAX TV online – See It Here
• Download the FREE NEWSMAX App on Your Smartphone to Watch Now!

Original Article

Pages from a Department of Justice court filing on Aug. 30, 2022, in response to a request from the legal team of former President Donald Trump for a special master to review the documents seized during the Aug. 8 search of Mar-a-Lago, are photographed early Wednesday, Aug. 31, 2022. Included in the filing was a FBI photo of documents that were seized during the search. (AP Photo/Jon Elswick)

OAN Newsroom
UPDATED 9:38 AM PT – Monday, September 5, 2022

On Monday in Florida, federal Judge Aileen Cannon ruled on appointing a special master to review the documents taken from 45th President Donald J. Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence.

The appointee will “review the seized property for personal items and documents and potentially privileged material subject to claims of attorney client and or executive privilege.”

The Department of Justice (DOJ), which has staunchly opposed the review, must now halt their own review of the materials. Both sides will now have to come up with offers on how the process will proceed. This includes deciding who will serve as the special master. Their proposals must be submitted by Friday.

MORE NEWS: 45th Pres. Trump Holds Rally In Wilkes-Barre, Pa.

Original Article Oann

Trump Slams FBI Raiding Son's 'Living Quarters,' Hunter Biden Double Standard Former President Donald Trump. (AP)

By Luca Cacciatore | Monday, 05 September 2022 04:34 PM EDT

Former President Donald Trump condemned the Biden administration in a series of Truth Social posts on Labor Day, first taking aim at the FBI for searching his family's "living quarters."

"So they riffled through the living quarters of my 16 year old son, Barron, and the loved and respected former First Lady of the United States, Melania," Trump noted in a Monday post to Truth Social.

Trump then pointed out the hypocrisy of the Joe Biden-led FBI and Justice Department never conducting a similar search on the president and his son's home over crucial information found on Hunter Biden's laptop.

"Despite proven high crimes and treason, and just plain common theft, all pointed out in the Laptop from Hell (and elsewhere), they never Raided or Broke Into the house of Hunter Biden or, perhaps even more importantly, the house of Joe Biden – A treasure trove! This is a Country that's unfair and broken. We are truly a Nation in Decline!!!" he added.

In another post published the same day, Trump slammed Biden's job as president and the direction the U.S. was heading under his leadership. The statement came just days after Biden's controversial speech in Philadelphia.

"The USA is rapidly becoming a Third World Nation. Crooked Elections, No Borders, a Weaponized Justice Department & FBI, record setting INFLATION, highest ever Energy Prices (and everything else), and all, including our Military, is WOKE, WOKE, WOKE. Most dangerous time in the history of our Country!!!" the former president stated.

Later, Trump circled back to his criticism of the FBI's handling of Hunter Biden's laptop: "The fired FBI Agent, it was just reported, was given the Laptop from Hell 11 days before the Presidential Election. He would NOT reveal it to anyone, knowing it would knock Biden out of the race – wouldn't even be close. The Election was RIGGED, the FBI is corrupt!!!" he claimed.

Original Article

Trump Slams FBI Raiding Son's 'Living Quarters,' Hunter Biden Double Standard Former President Donald Trump (AP)

By Luca Cacciatore | Monday, 05 September 2022 08:59 PM EDT

Former President Donald Trump condemned the Biden administration in a series of Truth Social posts on Labor Day, first taking aim at the FBI for the manner in which is conducted the recent search of his family's "living quarters."

"So they riffled through the living quarters of my 16 year old son, Barron, and the loved and respected former First Lady of the United States, Melania," Trump noted in one post.

Trump then reiterated allegations of hypocrisy relating to Hunter Biden, saying the FBI and Justice Department never conducted a similar search of President Biden or his son over crucial information found on Hunter's laptop.

"Despite proven high crimes and treason, and just plain common theft, all pointed out in the Laptop from Hell (and elsewhere), they never Raided or Broke Into the house of Hunter Biden or, perhaps even more importantly, the house of Joe Biden – A treasure trove! This is a Country that's unfair and broken. We are truly a Nation in Decline!!!" he added.

In another post published the same day, Trump slammed Biden's performance as president and the direction the U.S. is heading under his leadership. The statement came just days after Biden's controversial speech in Philadelphia, where he dubbed supporters of Trump's Make America Great Again movement an existential threat to democracy.

"The USA is rapidly becoming a Third World Nation. Crooked Elections, No Borders, a Weaponized Justice Department & FBI, record setting INFLATION, highest ever Energy Prices (and everything else), and all, including our Military, is WOKE, WOKE, WOKE. Most dangerous time in the history of our Country!!!" the former president wrote in his social media post/Biden critique.

Later, Trump circled back to his criticism of the FBI's handling of Hunter Biden's laptop: "The fired FBI Agent, it was just reported, was given the Laptop from Hell 11 days before the Presidential Election. He would NOT reveal it to anyone, knowing it would knock Biden out of the race – wouldn't even be close. The Election was RIGGED, the FBI is corrupt!!!" he claimed.

Trump has continued to press claims that he lost the 2020 election to Biden because of widespread and system election fraud.

Original Article

Biden Assails 'Trumpies' in Labor Day Battleground Pitches President Joe Biden speaks during an event at Henry Maier Festival Park in Milwaukee, Monday. Biden is in Wisconsin this Labor Day to kick off a nine-week sprint to the crucial midterm elections. (AP)

WILL WEISSERT Monday, 05 September 2022 03:52 PM EDT

President Joe Biden excoriated “MAGA Republicans, the extreme right and Trumpies” on Monday, pitching his Labor Day appeals to union members he hopes will turn out in force for his party in November.

“The middle class built America,” Biden told a workers’ gathering at park grounds in Milwaukee. “Everybody knows that. But unions built the middle class.”

Later Monday, he was flying to Pittsburgh for the city’s parade — returning to Pennsylvania for the third time in less than a week and just two days after his predecessor, Donald Trump, staged his own rally in the state.

The unofficial start of fall, Labor Day also traditionally starts a political busy season where campaigns scramble to excite voters for Election Day on Nov. 8. That’s when control of the House and Senate, as well some of the country’s top governorships, will be decided.

Trump spoke Saturday night in Wilkes-Barre, near Scranton, where Biden was born. The president made his own Wilkes-Barre trip last week to discuss increasing funding for police, decry GOP criticism of the FBI after the raid on Trump’s Florida estate and to argue that new, bipartisan gun measures can help reduce violent crime.

Two days after that, Biden went to Independence Hall in Philadelphia for a prime-time address denouncing the “extremism” of Trump’s fiercest supporters.

Trump has endorsed candidates in key races around the country and Biden is warning that some Republicans now believe so strongly in Trumpism that they are willing to undermine core American values to promote it. The president said Thursday that “blind loyalty to a single leader, and a willingness to engage in political violence, is fatal to democracy.”

Trump responded during his Saturday rally that Biden is “an enemy of the state.”

On Monday, Biden said “I’m not talking about all Republicans” but singled out those who have taken Trump’s “Make America Great Again” campaign cry to dangerous or hateful lengths. He highlighted episodes like last year’s mob attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Biden told the Milwaukee rally that many in the GOP have “chosen to go backwards, full of anger, violence, hate, division.”

“But together we can, and we must, choose a different path forward,” Biden said. “A future of unity and hope. we’re going to choose to build a better America.”

The crowd jeered as Biden chided Republican Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin for voting against a Democratic-backed measure meant to lower prescription drug prices.

The president also returned to another theme that was a centerpiece of his 2020 campaign, that labor unions boosted the middle class.

Unions endorsements helped Biden overcome disastrous early finishes in Iowa and New Hampshire to win the Democratic primary, and eventually the White House. He has since continued to praise labor unions — even though many voters without college degrees remain among Trump’s strongest bloc of supporters.

Mary Kay Henry, president of the 2-million-member Service Employees International Union, called Biden’s championing of unions heading into the midterms “critical” and said the labor movement must “mobilize in battlegrounds across the country to ensure that working people turn out.”

“We’re really excited about the president speaking directly to workers about, if he had the opportunity, he’d join a union,” Henry said. She added: “This president has signaled which side he’s on. And he’s on the side of working people. And that matters hugely.”

Biden, meanwhile, has personal history with Pittsburgh’s Labor Day parade, which is among the nation’s largest. He attended the 2015 installment as vice president and returned in 2018. Both times, Biden, now 79, faced questions about whether he’d run for president in coming elections — which he opted against in 2016 before winning the White House in 2020.

This year, the oldest president in U.S. history has faced speculation about if he’ll seek a second term in 2024 — though he’s insisted that’s his intention, and the pressure has dissipated some in recent weeks after a string of policy and political successes for Biden and his party.

Still, both perennial presidential battleground states Biden was visiting Monday may provide key measures of Democrats’ strength before this November and 2024. With inflation still raging and the president’s approval ratings remaining low, how much Biden can help his party in top races — and how much candidates want him to try — remains to be seen.

That was on display in Wisconsin, where Democratic Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes is trying to unseat incumbent Johnson, but did not appear with him in Milwaukee.

In the state’s other top race, Tim Michels, a construction executive endorsed by Trump, is attempting to deny Democratic Gov. Tony Evers a second term. Evers also spoke at the labor event Biden addressed and briefly greeted the president in a backstage photo line.

“We have a president who understands the challenges facing working families,” Evers told the crowd. He said that Biden “hasn’t forgotten that working families matter, not just on Labor Day, but every single day of the year.”

Pennsylvania voters are choosing a new governor, with state Attorney General John Shapiro facing another Trump-endorsed Republican, Doug Mastriano, and a new senator. That race is between Democratic Lt. Gov. John Fetterman and Trump-backed celebrity heart physician Mehmet Oz. Shapiro and Fetterman both planned to attend Monday’s Pittsburgh parade.

The Pennsylvania and Wisconsin races could decide which party controls the Senate next year, while the winner of each governorship may influence results in 2024′s presidential election. The stakes are particularly high given that some Trump-aligned candidates have supported Trump in his allegations of widespread fraud during the 2020 election.

Vice President Kamala Harris paid tribute to organized labor in at breakfast meeting with the Greater Boston Labor Council, declaring “When union wages go up, everybody’s wages go up.”

“When union workplaces are safer everyone is safer,” Harris said. “When unions are strong, America is strong.”

Original Article

Biden Assails 'Trumpies' in Labor Day Battleground Pitches President Joe Biden speaks during an event at Henry Maier Festival Park in Milwaukee, Monday. Biden is in Wisconsin this Labor Day to kick off a nine-week sprint to the crucial midterm elections. (AP)

WILL WEISSERT Monday, 05 September 2022 03:52 PM EDT

President Joe Biden excoriated "MAGA Republicans, the extreme right, and Trumpies" on Monday, pitching his Labor Day appeals to union members he hopes will turn out in force for his party in November.

"The middle class built America," Biden told a workers' gathering at park grounds in Milwaukee. "Everybody knows that. But unions built the middle class."

Later Monday, he was flying to Pittsburgh for the city's parade — returning to Pennsylvania for the third time in less than a week and just two days after his predecessor, Donald Trump, staged his own rally in the state.

The unofficial start of fall, Labor Day also traditionally starts a political busy season where campaigns scramble to excite voters for Election Day on Nov. 8. That's when control of the House and Senate, as well some of the country's top governorships, will be decided.

Trump spoke Saturday night in Wilkes-Barre, near Scranton, where Biden was born. The president made his own Wilkes-Barre trip last week to discuss increasing funding for police, decry GOP criticism of the FBI after the raid on Trump's Florida estate, and to argue that new, bipartisan gun measures can help reduce violent crime.

Two days after that, Biden went to Independence Hall in Philadelphia for a prime-time address denouncing the "extremism" of Trump's fiercest supporters.

Trump has endorsed candidates in key races around the country and Biden is warning that some Republicans now believe so strongly in Trumpism that they are willing to undermine core American values to promote it. The president said Thursday that "blind loyalty to a single leader, and a willingness to engage in political violence, is fatal to democracy."

Trump responded during his Saturday rally that Biden is "an enemy of the state."

On Monday, Biden said "I'm not talking about all Republicans" but singled out those who have taken Trump's "Make America Great Again" campaign cry to dangerous or hateful lengths. He highlighted episodes like last year's mob attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Biden told the Milwaukee rally that many in the GOP have "chosen to go backwards, full of anger, violence, hate, division."

"But together we can, and we must, choose a different path forward," Biden said. "A future of unity and hope. we're going to choose to build a better America."

The crowd jeered as Biden chided Republican Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin for voting against a Democratic-backed measure meant to lower prescription drug prices.

The president also returned to another theme that was a centerpiece of his 2020 campaign, that labor unions boosted the middle class.

Unions endorsements helped Biden overcome disastrous early finishes in Iowa and New Hampshire to win the Democratic primary, and eventually the White House. He has since continued to praise labor unions — even though many voters without college degrees remain among Trump's strongest bloc of supporters.

Mary Kay Henry, president of the 2-million-member Service Employees International Union, called Biden's championing of unions heading into the midterms "critical" and said the labor movement must "mobilize in battlegrounds across the country to ensure that working people turn out."

"We're really excited about the president speaking directly to workers about, if he had the opportunity, he'd join a union," Henry said. She added: "This president has signaled which side he's on. And he's on the side of working people. And that matters hugely."

Biden, meanwhile, has personal history with Pittsburgh's Labor Day parade, which is among the nation's largest. He attended the 2015 installment as vice president and returned in 2018. Both times, Biden, now 79, faced questions about whether he'd run for president in coming elections — which he opted against in 2016 before winning the White House in 2020.

This year, the oldest president in U.S. history has faced speculation about if he'll seek a second term in 2024 — though he's insisted that's his intention, and the pressure has dissipated some in recent weeks after a string of policy and political successes for Biden and his party.

Still, both perennial presidential battleground states Biden was visiting Monday may provide key measures of Democrats' strength before this November and 2024. With inflation still raging and the president's approval ratings remaining low, how much Biden can help his party in top races — and how much candidates want him to try — remains to be seen.

That was on display in Wisconsin, where Democratic Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes is trying to unseat incumbent Johnson, but did not appear with him in Milwaukee.

In the state's other top race, Tim Michels, a construction executive endorsed by Trump, is attempting to deny Democratic Gov. Tony Evers a second term. Evers also spoke at the labor event Biden addressed and briefly greeted the president in a backstage photo line.

"We have a president who understands the challenges facing working families," Evers told the crowd. He said that Biden "hasn't forgotten that working families matter, not just on Labor Day, but every single day of the year."

Pennsylvania voters are choosing a new governor, with state Attorney General John Shapiro facing another Trump-endorsed Republican, Doug Mastriano, and a new senator. That race is between Democratic Lt. Gov. John Fetterman and Trump-backed celebrity heart physician Mehmet Oz. Shapiro and Fetterman both planned to attend Monday's Pittsburgh parade.

The Pennsylvania and Wisconsin races could decide which party controls the Senate next year, while the winner of each governorship may influence results in 2024′s presidential election. The stakes are particularly high given that some Trump-aligned candidates have supported Trump in his allegations of widespread fraud during the 2020 election.

Vice President Kamala Harris paid tribute to organized labor in at breakfast meeting with the Greater Boston Labor Council, declaring "When union wages go up, everybody's wages go up."

"When union workplaces are safer everyone is safer," Harris said. "When unions are strong, America is strong."

Original Article

Brian Andersson to Newsmax: Border Crisis 'Unsustainable' (Dreamstime)

By Sandy Fitzgerald | Monday, 05 September 2022 03:50 PM EDT

The word "unsustainable" is often overused, but in connection with the thousands of migrants arriving across the Texas border daily, there's no other word to describe the situation, former New York City Commissioner Brian Andersson, who served under Mayors Rudy Giuliani and Michael Bloomberg, tells Newsmax.

With Texas sending busloads of immigrants to New York City, that leaves city council members to determine what to do with them, Andersson commented on Newsmax's "National Report."

"They're building a lot of new luxury towers," said Andersson. "Perhaps we should get those developers who contribute to Democratic causes to apportion a number of those luxury apartments to these migrants."

Andersson said, though, that even though most hearts are in the right place when it comes to wanting to take care of the immigrants, the border was "closed for a reason" while former President Donald Trump was in the White House.

"We cannot sustain putting people like this up here and their children in schools, and afford the language services that they will need and demand," Andersson said.

Meanwhile, Andersson criticized President Joe Biden's speech last week on the "battle for the soul" of the nation, including the red backdrop that was featured.

"This is kind of like Star Wars is throwing down the gauntlet," he said. "He's making it very clear that this is the direction [he's] going to go."

The former commissioner added that there is no doubt Trump will battle Biden for the White House.

"Well, he's running now," Andersson said of Trump. "It's just a matter of declaring an I think that could happen, barring any unforeseen circumstances, but he's the only [Republican] running."

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Rep. Biggs to Newsmax: Biden's Speech Walk-Back Feels 'Phony'

(Newsmax/"National Report")

By Sandy Fitzgerald | Monday, 05 September 2022 03:17 PM EDT

President Joe Biden's move to walk back some of the anti-MAGA comments he made in his speech at Independence Hall felt "phony" as they didn't come until 12 hours later, Rep. Andy Biggs said on Newsmax on Monday.

"He decided, Well, I've got to take that back," the Arizona Republican said on Newsmax's "National Report," adding that he thought former President Donald Trump's Saturday night rally comments were "on the money."

"I mean, let's look at who's projecting fascism here," said Biggs, who has asked for an apology from Biden that he doesn't expect to get.

"I don't think he's going to even acknowledge my comment, but that's OK because I think most Americans realize that the speech he gave was incredibly divisive," said Biggs. "It's probably the most divisive rhetoric we've seen in the United States of America since our inception, 230 or so years ago."

Biggs said he also found it "outrageous" hearing from Trump that the FBI, during its warrant search of Trump's "Mar-a-Lago home, entered the bedrooms of Melania Trump and Trump's teenaged son, Barron."

"I do believe that some of the stuff that we're hearing, the fact that those are just cover sheets on the floor, that the staged photograph by the Department of Justice, all of this is being done to attack President Trump," Biggs said.

Biggs on Monday also discussed the ongoing border crisis and comments from the White House denying migrants are walking across the nation's borders.

"I was back down at the border again last week and I can tell you people do just walk across the border," he said. "They're not flying in. These are not people going through the ports of entry. These are between the ports of entry … they're simply walking across and we don't test them for COVID or anything else unless they have some kind of overt sign or symptom."

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Original Article

Lindsey Graham: Trump in '24 Could Produce Historical Political Comeback Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. (Getty Images)

By Charlie McCarthy | Monday, 05 September 2022 02:50 PM EDT

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said he recently told Donald Trump that 2024 could determine the former president's legacy, and also produce "one of the greatest political comebacks in American history."

During an interview with CNBC at the Ambrosetti Forum in Italy, Graham said he believed Trump had a "pretty good chance" of winning the next presidential election, and explained what he told the former president.

The Ambrosetti Forum, organized by The European House, is an annual international economic conference.

"I'm literally telling you what I tell him," Graham told CNBC's Steve Sedgwick on Saturday.

"If you lose again, the history about who you are and what you did dramatically changes. If you come back, it will be one of the greatest political comebacks in American history. And if you get four more years, you can do big stuff."

Trump has not announced whether he will run for president in 2024, but has told supporters he thinks they'll be very happy with what he decides. Most allies of the former president expect him to seek a return to office.

Graham, a close Trump ally, told CNBC what the former president might say to the American people if he decides to run.

"Alright, you've lived through four years of this. You get a chance to start over," Graham said. "Remember me? I may not be your cup of tea, but when I was president, our border was secure, we had the lowest illegal crossings in 40 years. I did it.

"When I was president, I stood up to China and they listened. When I was president, we had the strongest military since Ronald Reagan. When I was president, I destroyed the caliphate. When I was president, we had conservative judges, not liberal judges."

The senator, who admitted he had advised the former president that he had "no chance" of winning the 2020 election, did say that Trump might need more than sound policies to regain favor among some U.S. voters.

"His problem is personal," Graham said. "His policies have stood the test of time. But has he worn the American people out in terms of his personality? … Time will tell."

Original Article